Foreign Collusion, Naked Shorting (Counterfeiting) & Money Laundering — All Illicit Wealth
Floyd Norris
The New York Times, 30 April 2009
Naked short-selling.
In some circles, those are fighting words. There are companies that blame all their problems on that kind of trading, which is illegal if it is intended to manipulate the market. There are claims that it has destroyed thousands of public companies, although those making the claims have trouble naming any such companies.
Mechanics of short selling, naked short selling and synthetic short selling
John Olagues
321gold, 16 April 2009
There is much in the media these days about short selling, naked short selling and the “uptick rule.” Some claim that naked short sellers collude with “Rumor Mongers” to collapse stock like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and so on. There is little in the media about the specific mechanics of short selling or the concept of synthetic short selling.
Ban on Naked Short-Selling in the U.S.
InBrief, 15 April 2009
It appears that the ban imposed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on naked short-selling will be permanent. It is unlikely that Canadian regulators will alter the rules with respect to short-selling because the imperatives for further regulatory action do not appear as compelling in Canada. What is the Essence of Naked Short-selling?
Our Watchdogs and the Financial Scandal of the Century
Mark Mitchell
Deep Capture, 3 April 2009
“Accountability – Integrity – Reliability”
That’s the motto of the Government Accountability Office, and it almost makes you believe that there really is a functioning watchdog – somebody, aside from us Internet loons, to investigate and report on the incompetence and malfeasance that pervade our public institutions.
Certainly, there were high hopes when the GAO began investigating the Securities and Exchange Commission’s oversight of the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), a black box Wall Street outfit that is at the center of one of the great financial scandals of our era.
How Wall Street Is Using the Bailout to Stage a Revolution
Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone, 2 April 2009
It’s over – we’re officially, royally fucked. no empire can survive being rendered a permanent laughingstock, which is what happened as of a few weeks ago, when the buffoons who have been running things in this country finally went one step too far. It happened when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was forced to admit that he was once again going to have to stuff billions of taxpayer dollars into a dying insurance giant called AIG, itself a profound symbol of our national decline – a corporation that got rich insuring the concrete and steel of American industry in the country’s heyday, only to destroy itself chasing phantom fortunes at the Wall Street card tables, like a dissolute nobleman gambling away the family estate in the waning days of the British Empire.
The Real AIG Scandal: How the Game is Rigged at Wall Street’s Casino
Lucy Komisar
AlterNet, 26 March 2009
There’s nothing like a grandstanding member of Congress to deflect attention from the real issues at hand by throwing a few juicy bones to the masses. Most legislators at a House Finance subcommittee hearing last week deftly avoided the real story of AIG’s collapse. Instead, they homed in on the public relations disaster of hundreds of top AIG officials and staff getting $165 million (later revealed as over $218 million) in bonuses.
Save The Billionaire Short-Sellers!
Rch Karlgaard
Forbes, 24 March 2009
My, oh my. Here is a shocker. James Chanos, the billionaire short-seller, opposes any reforms that would tilt the stock market away from shorting selling. Here is his argument. Not surprisingly, Chanos, whose firm Kynikos means “cynic” in Greek, leaves out all the recent history that has made short-selling so lucrative. Such as:
3. Naked short-selling. Cox’s SEC failed to enforce its own rule against naked short-selling. Again, Wikipedia: “Naked short-selling, or naked shorting, is a type of financial speculation. It is the practice of selling a stock short, without first borrowing the shares or ensuring that the shares can be borrowed, as is done in a conventional short sale. When the seller does not obtain the shares within the required time frame, the result is known as a “fail to deliver.” The transaction generally remains open until the shares are acquired by the seller or the seller’s broker, allowing the trade to be settled. Naked short-selling can be used to manipulate the price of securities by driving their price down, and its use in this way is illegal. … Some commentators have contended that despite regulations, naked shorting is widespread and that the SEC regulations are poorly enforced. The SEC has denied these claims. However, the SEC and others have also defended the practice in limited form as beneficial for market liquidity. Its critics have contended that the practice is susceptible to abuse, can be damaging to targeted companies struggling to raise capital, and has led to numerous bankruptcies.”
Naked short sales hint fraud in bringing down Lehman
Gary Matsumoto
Bloomberg, 22 March 2009
The biggest bankruptcy in history might have been avoided if Wall Street had been prevented from practicing one of its darkest arts. As Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc struggled to survive last year, as many as 32.8 million shares in the company were sold and not delivered to buyers on time as of September 11, according to data compiled by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bloomberg. That was a more than 57-fold increase over the prior years peak of 567,518 failed trades on July 30. The SEC has linked such so-called fails-to-deliver to naked short selling, a strategy that can be used to manipulate markets. A fail-to-deliver is a trade that doesn’t settle within three days. We had another word for this in Brooklyn, said Harvey Pitt, a former SEC chairman. The word was fraud.
Jim Cramer knows how easy CNBC is to fool. He used to play the network himself. Here are five episodes from the stock speculator’s past that could use some dusting off.
Cramer avoided any career-ending gaffes on the Daily Show last night — like say, “when a performing monkey pundit does it that means that it is not illegal!”
Jim Cramer Uses CNBC to Manipulate Stocks
I’ve been waiting for a good time to bring this story to Daily Kos and, since it’s CNBC day (or week hopefully), I figured now would be a good time.
By now, everyone should have heard about the ongoing war that CNBC is waging against the Obama administration and its plans revamp the economy. From it’s constant anti-Obama propaganda and commentary to its shady PR stunt to manufacture a bogus uprising against Obama’s mortgage plan, CNBC has been working overtime as a propaganda front against the Obama agenda.
Strange Occurrences, and a Story about Naked Short Selling
27 January 2009
Mark Mitchell
DeepCapture, 27 January 2009
Evidence suggests that Bernard Madoff, the “prominent” Wall Street operator and former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, had ties to the Russian Mafia, Moscow-based oligarchs, and the Genovese organized crime family.
And, as reported by Deep Capture and Reuters, Madoff did not just orchestrate a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. He was also the principal architect of SEC rules that made it easier for “naked” short sellers to manufacture phantom stock and destroy public companies – a factor in the near total collapse of the American financial system.
Bernard Madoff, the Mafia, and Naked Short Selling
Mark Mitchell
DeepCapture, 19 January 2009
Bernard L. Madoff was once the chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange. He was one of the most important market makers on Wall Street. And he managed what was, by some estimates, the largest hedge fund on the planet.
Yes, Bernard Madoff was an impressive man. That much was clear even before we learned that his $50 billion Ponzi scheme may have been orchestrated in cahoots with the most powerful, sophisticated, and indiscriminately murderous organized crime syndicate the world has ever known.
Geithner – Treasury Nominee Failed to Halt Bond Scam
Lucy Komisar
The Komisar Scoop, 19 January 2009
U.S. Senators at Timothy Geithner’s confirmation hearing for Treasury Secretary Wednesday may want to ask him about a failure to act that is costing the U.S. a lot more than the amount he evaded on taxes.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which he has led since 2003, conducts the operations on Wall Street of the Federal Reserve in Washington, the country’s central bank.
The Brualdi Law Firm, P.C. Announces Class Action Lawsuit Against AtriCure, Inc.
The Brualdi Law Firm, 19 December 2008
NEW YORK, Dec. 19, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Brualdi Law Firm, P.C. announces that a lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on behalf of purchasers of AtriCure, Inc. (“AtriCure” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq:ATRC) securities during the period between May 10, 2007 and October 31, 2008 (the “Class Period”) for violations of the federal securities laws.
No class has yet been certified in the above action. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. If you purchased AtriCure common stock during the Class Period, and wish to move the court for appointment of lead plaintiff, you must do so by February 10, 2009. A lead plaintiff is a representative party acting on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff will be selected from among applicants claiming the largest loss from investment in the Company during the Class Period. You do not need to seek appointment as a lead plaintiff in order to share in any recovery.
Continue reading “Article: The Brualdi Law Firm, P.C. Announces Class Action Lawsuit Against AtriCure, Inc.”
The DTCC’s CNS naked short selling residue
Patrick Byrne
DeepCapture, 1 December 2008
In a previous post I named various places where unsettled trades can accumulate: in the desks of brokers, in pre-netting among brokers, in the Continuous Net Settlement (CNS) system, in the Stock Borrow Program (SBP), through ex-clearing, and in delivery mechanisms from offshore exchanges. For all I know, these represent just a subset of the cracks in the system. The great unanswered question is, How much financial toxic waste has naked short selling and its various equivalents left scattered throughout these cracks?
The answer is: I don’t know, and I think no one knows. I suspect no one agent has the full picture of what is going on across all of these cracks. In fact, I suspect some of these cracks are so obscure no one has a clear picture of what is going on in them individually, let alone collectively.
THE DOLLAR HAS NO INTRINSIC VALUE : DO YOUR ASSETS?
